Hensoldt installs ASR-NG system in Australia

Hensoldt has completed installation of the second final Airport Surveillance Radar - Next Generation (ASR-NG) air traffic control system in Australia to improve flight safety and airspace surveillance, the company announced on 9 August.

The second final system has been installed at Oakey, near Brisbane, and joins East Sale, the first interim system, and Tindal, the first final system which is installed in the far north of Australia.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has purchased nine ASR-NG systems under the AIR 5431 Phase 2 – Fixed Defence Air Traffic Control Surveillance Sensors project, and one operational maintenance trainer (OMT).

Due to the location requirements for the final systems at two of the sites, two interim systems are being installed to provide the customer with continuous radar coverage while the legacy radars are removed and replaced with the new Hensoldt solutions.

All systems will undergo the site acceptance testing prior to starting operations. ASR-NG in Tindal is expected to be operational in November 2018. Nowra interim is currently being installed at Naval Air Station Nowra. Additionally, the OMT has also become operational at the RAAF training facility at RAAF Base Amberley.

Hensoldt has collaborated with IE-Asia Pacific and Nova Systems for project execution.

Each of the ASR radars consist of an integrated primary and secondary radar system. The primary radar helps to detect non-cooperative objects such as small aircraft without transponders or hostile aircraft. It is based on a semiconductor transmitter and includes special signal processing techniques for wide-area surveillance.

The secondary radar, MSSR 2000 I, provides automatic identification of cooperative aircraft. It meets the new Mode S/Mode 5 air traffic control standard, which improves aircraft identification queries and is currently being introduced in all NATO and allied forces.